I would
like to know the correct use of used to and would for past habits.
Please tell me which of these is correct:

I used
to live in that house.
I would live in that house.

Roger
Woodham replies:

used
to: questions and negative forms

Used to is used to describe past habits or long-lasting actions and situations which are now finished

People used to think the sun revolved around the earth.

I used to take size 12, but now I take size 14

For questions and negative forms, two forms of the verb are used
- either the normal infinitive pattern after did (more common),
or the past form used (less common):

When you were a kid, did you use to think the sun
revolved around the earth?

When you were a kid, did you used to think the sun
revolved around the earth?

I didn't use to take such a large dress size, but
now I do.

I didn't used to take such a large dress size, but
now I do.

In a more formal style, questions and negatives are possible without
do, following the pattern of a modal auxiliary verb, although
these forms are less often used:

I used not to like contemporary dance, but now I do.

Used you to play the organ in church before you became
a monk?

in 1996/last month etc. - usually/frequently/often etc.

When we use used to, we are describing things that happened
at an earlier stage in our lives which are no longer in place as
circumstances have changed. Note that if we want simply to refer
to what happened in the past, we normally use the simple past
tense, often with an adverbial time phrase:

From 1995 to 1998 I lived in that house and
then I emigrated to Australia.

I returned to Britain two years ago and last
year I bought this house in Bath.

Note that when we want to talk about present habits and states,
we use the present simple tense, often with an adverb of
frequency:

I usually do my homework immediately after supper.

I occasionally smoke cigars, but never cigarettes.

I normally use public transport in London, but I sometimes
drive in despite the congestion charge.

would or used to?

When we are telling a story and recollecting an event from long
ago, we often prefer to use would to describe repeated behaviour
in the past, although both would and used to are possible:

Do you remember what we used to get up to when we were teenagers?
How I would wait for you nearly every afternoon after school and
then we would stroll home together across the park, holding hands,
and you would feed the ducks on the pond while I had a cigarette?

Note, Ehtisham, that would in this sense describes past
events and actions. It cannot be used to refer to past
states. To describe past states we can only use used
to:

I used to live in that house over there.
(NOT: I would live in that house over there.)

I used to own a 1966 Silver Cloud Rolls Royce.
(NOT I would own a 1966 Silver Cloud Rolls Royce.)

I used sometimes to drive to work in it.

I would sometimes drive to work in it.

If
you would like more practice more please visit our in the You, Meand Us part of our
website.